And today, I read Jeffrey Lord's latest American Spectator piece that not only made me reflect on conservatism's foundation, but I found it quite reinforcing and enlightening as to this modern so-called 'libertarian' movement that surrounds Ron Paul, focusing intently on those associated with it. As such, it would appear that all is not as it seems, and Lord's research greatly sheds light on this...
Looming over the interesting and appealing ideas of the Paul campaign is a veritable political tornado of allegations involving anti-Semitism, racism, pacifism, far left-wingism and, at the edges, a tiny flicker of intimidation.
I'd rather not spoil every bit of Mr. Lord's venture into the non-interventionist/isolationist camp of what might be called 'Neo-Liberalism' or even 'Quasi-Conservatism' by trying to dissect every piece of his discussion. That's for you to read and assess in total. Rather, I'd like to point the reader to the crux of Lord's research: "perhaps the real key to understanding the decided left-leaning tendencies of neoliberals is their considerable dislike of… Conservatives," to which he follows with, "You read that right."
Here are the views of various prominent Paul supporters about some conservatives you may be familiar with.
• Ronald Reagan: Here the late Paulist Murray Rothbard labels the conservative presidential icon as a "cretin," Reagan's two-terms in office described as "eight dreary, miserable, mind-numbing years."
• William F. Buckley, Jr.: The man who became the very gold standard of the American conservative movement is viewed as a "defacto totalitarian" here, again in another Rothbard selection from ex-Paul chief of staff Lew Rockwell's site, a site for which Paul himself has written.
• Antonin Scalia: Justice Scalia is not only no conservative in Paulville, he is -- sitting down? -- "a reliable supporter of presidential dictatorship, the police state, the torture-warfare state, and the empire." This gem was penned by ex-Paul chief of staff Rockwell himself.
• Sarah Palin: That's right. This business of Sarah Palin being a conservative, according to Rockwell, is just a ruse. In fact, Governor Palin is really a "double agent" for the "regime." From the same article as above. Oh yes… don't forget Governor Palin is quite possibly a "puppet" (as seen here by Jack Hunter, now the Paul campaign's "official blogger"). Oh, and Mr. Mulshine, the Paulist columnist? To him Palin is "just another whiny liberal claiming victimization."
• Edwin Meese: The former Reagan Attorney General beloved of conservative activists is described in Paulville as the "mouthpiece" for fascists
• The Koch Brothers: The fascists for whom Ed Meese is the fascist mouthpiece? That would be the libertarian Koch brothers who, apparently, aren't libertarian at all in the eyes of Paulville. In Paulville, libertarian conservatives David and Charles Koch are said to be supporters of a "fascist regime." Same post as above. It is surely no coincidence that the Koch brothers were targeted earlier this year by the far-left hacking group Anonymous. As seen in this Politico story. Once again, the right/left neoliberal profile surfaces.
• Clarence Thomas: Dubbed part of a fascist "tag team" by Paul supporters. Why? Because Justice Thomas, along with fellow Justice Scalia, spoke at that gathering sponsored by those fascist Koch brothers. Where Ed Meese was covering as the mouthpiece for the fascists.
• Rush Limbaugh: Rush? Rush Limbaugh? That Rush Limbaugh isn't a conservative? Nope. Not in Paulville. In the eyes of Paulvillians the Rush Limbaugh so many millions of conservatives thought they knew and loved turns out to be a man with "Stalinist tendencies" -- aka a commie. Read all about it here.
• Sean Hannity: So OK, understanding that Sarah Palin is a double agent and a puppet and Rush is pulsing with Stalinist tendencies, surely Sean Hannity -- conservative talk show and TV host extraordinaire, author of the bestselling Conservative Victory -- surely Sean is a real conservative? Naaaaaaaaah. Not in Paulville. There our friend Sean is -- no kidding -- "evil" That's right. You read that right. Hannity is, quite seriously in the minds (?) of Paulville's neolibs, part of the "pantheon of warmongers that make up the true axis of evil." Once that is understood, this video of Ron Paul supporters literally chasing Hannity through the streets of New Hampshire in 2008 can be seen for the leftist intimidation it was intended to be. The fact that the video of Paul supporters chasing Hannity so closely matches this video of Wisconsin leftists chasing and trapping a Wisconsin Republican legislator is a chilling reminder of the commonality of the protestors involved.
• Mark Levin: Come on. So he wrote the bestselling conservative manifesto Liberty and Tyranny.
So Michele Bachmann has called Levin an inspiration to the Tea Party. So Tea Party members were waving the book in the air at their rallies. So what? Levin's no conservative in Paulville. Levin's… you know… wink wink… one of them [Jewish].
• The Cato Institute: The Cato Institute? The premiere libertarian think tank in America under attack in Paulville? No way! Yup. Here.
There's more -- much more than we have room for here. The Ron Paul campaign's "official blogger" Jack Hunter hates Lincoln but can't find his tongue with Confederate president Jefferson Davis suspending habeas corpus or 100% of the civil liberties of blacks -- aka slavery. Then there's Thomas J. DiLorenzo, whose arguments are recommended reading by Ron Paul. Here's Mr. DiLorenzo on Amazon.
Jeffrey Lord surmises that, "The Ron Paul campaign is really about re-educating America to what can only be called Neoliberalism. Which, based on the evidence and writings of its supporters, appears to be a thin gruel of free markets and non-interventionism seasoned heavily with anti-Semitism, morally obtuse Neo-Confederates, and an outspoken contempt for both conservatism and conservative leaders past and present." And while it's even hard for Lord to understand "why Mr. Paul let's himself be associated with this shameful, shameful stuff," one thing is for certain: this is not conservatism.
UPDATE: Levin had previously mentioned this article at the end of Tuesday's show and returned to this topic on Thursday's program...
...then had Jeffrey Lord join him to discuss this in more detail...
So after this group of neo-confederate Paulists are done trashing most other conservatives, who's left? Mark answers, "Ron Paul, I guess?" And Lord affirms, "That's right...that is the whole point...to undermine the credibility of all of these people...that's what their objective is, because at the end of it all then, Ron Paul and his interpretation of this stuff is left standing, and that frankly is nonsense on stilts."
